Enola Gay
100 Club, London - 2 April 2026
"A
willingness not to play by the rules and stretch outside the
confines of 'guitar music'"
My first time
seeing this lot live, although I have enjoyed their recorded output
for some time now.
Essentially a
noise band in love with heavy dance beats, they meld crushing riffs
with angry rap-inflected vocals and mutant-funk basslines.
As far as the
lyrics go, what I could make out seemed to be tales of homelessness,
random violence and frustration.
Unafraid of
drop-outs/ build-ups and letting the feedback do the talking,
although they don’t really sound like them, they remind me of Infotainment?
era Pitchshifter in the way they seamlessly blended their punk and
dance influences.
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Enola Gay
Photos L-R: by John Marshall & Nick Hydra
As
seems to be the case with a lot of gigs these days, it was too
bloody quiet, and the guitar especially could have done with
being a lot louder in the mix. The drums dominated the sound;
and although they were very good and not the usual 'rock'
patterns, they were pushed too far forward in the mix for my
liking.
Of
most interest, however, is the guitar work. There are the
aforementioned crushing riffs of course, but there is also a lot
of space; periods where no notes are played - whole songs where
the guitar is propped against the amp and the feedback is
'played' by manipulating various FX pedals.
It's
this willingness not to play by the rules and stretch outside
the confines of 'guitar music' that makes them great, and will
be what gives them the ability to stand out and (hopefully) have
a long career. 8/10
Review: Nick Hydra